First Intermediate Period: Collapse of Egypt's Old Kingdom

The First Intermediate Period was a time of political division in ancient Egypt, lasting from about 2181 to 2055 BC, between the collapse of the Old Kingdom and the rise of the Middle Kingdom. Central royal power faded, provincial governors acted as local rulers, and two rival royal houses, at Herakleopolis in the north and Thebes in the south, fought for supremacy. The period ended when the Theban king Mentuhotep II reunited the country.

Causes: why the Old Kingdom broke down

By the late Sixth Dynasty, power in Egypt had been shifting away from the royal court at Memphis for generations. Provincial governors, called nomarchs, increasingly passed their offices from father to son, built rich tombs in their home districts and controlled local granaries and men.

The crown had also given away much of its wealth. Royal decrees exempted temples and the estates that supported royal cults from taxes and labour duties. The very long reign of Pepi II, traditionally over 90 years, may have ended in a succession crisis, as many potential heirs died before him.

Environmental change is often added to the picture. Around 2200 BC a drier phase, sometimes called the 4.2-kiloyear event, affected parts of the Near East and North Africa, and may have reduced the Nile floods. Some scholars see this as a major cause; others think its role has been overstated. Most now see the collapse as the result of several pressures acting together.

The fragmented kingdom

The Seventh and Eighth Dynasties continued to rule from Memphis, but with little real power. Manetho’s later tradition of “seventy kings in seventy days” for the Seventh Dynasty is not taken literally; it probably reflects confusion and rapid turnover. The Eighth Dynasty king Ibi was the last to carve the Pyramid Texts in a small pyramid at Saqqara.

Around 2160 BC a new line of kings arose at Herakleopolis Magna, near the entrance to the Faiyum. Its founder is known as Khety (also written Akhtoy; Greek Achthoes). These Ninth and Tenth Dynasties claimed rule over all Egypt and were supported by powerful nomarchs, notably those of Asyut in Middle Egypt.

In the south, local rulers of Thebes, then a minor town, formed the Eleventh Dynasty around 2125 BC. Intef I, Intef II and Intef III steadily extended their control. Intef II, who ruled for about 50 years, pushed north as far as the region of Abydos and Thinis.

Rival kings and local strongmen

The contest between Herakleopolis and Thebes centred on the borderland around Thinis and Abydos, the holy city of Osiris. Fighting there seems to have gone back and forth for decades. A later text, the Teaching for King Merikare, has a Herakleopolitan king admit that sacred tombs in the Thinite region were damaged in war, an unusual confession of guilt.

The governor Ankhtifi of Mo’alla, a supporter of Herakleopolis in the far south, left a long autobiography in his tomb. He describes taking over a neighbouring province, resisting Theban forces and feeding his people during a severe famine. His text gives a vivid local view, though it was written to glorify him.

Soldiers were in demand. Stelae from Gebelein near Thebes show Nubian archers who settled and served there, and painted wooden models of troops, including Nubian bowmen, were found in the tomb of the official Mesehti at Asyut.

Society, art and religion

Royal monuments shrank, but provincial life did not stop. Local workshops produced tomb stelae, statues and coffins in vigorous regional styles. Many more people than before could afford decorated burials.

Religious ideas also spread. Spells adapted from the royal Pyramid Texts were painted inside the wooden coffins of officials and local elites. These Coffin Texts, which developed during this period and the early Middle Kingdom, show that hopes for a blessed afterlife were no longer reserved for kings alone.

Literature of crisis

Several famous Egyptian literary works are linked to this era. The Teaching for King Merikare presents advice from a Herakleopolitan king to his son. The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant is set under a Herakleopolitan king, and tells of a peasant who is robbed and argues so well for justice that the king orders his speeches written down.

The Admonitions of Ipuwer describes a world turned upside down, with the poor becoming rich and the land in chaos. It was once read as an eyewitness account of this period, but many scholars now date its composition to the Middle Kingdom or later and treat it as literature about disorder rather than direct reporting. Almost all these texts survive only in later copies, so their links to real events must be read with care.

Key people

• Khety (Akhtoy): founder of the Herakleopolitan line around 2160 BC. Several later kings of the Ninth and Tenth Dynasties shared the name, which makes their order hard to reconstruct.
• Merikare: a Herakleopolitan king of the late Tenth Dynasty, known mainly from the teaching addressed to him and from inscriptions at Asyut. He ruled shortly before the Theban victory.
• Intef II (Wahankh): the longest-reigning king of the early Eleventh Dynasty. His stelae record campaigns northward and a deep devotion to the gods of Thebes.
• Ankhtifi: nomarch of Hierakonpolis who also took control of the neighbouring Edfu province, and whose tomb at Mo’alla is one of the richest sources for the politics of the south.
• The nomarchs of Asyut: a family of governors, including Khety I and Tefibi, who fought for Herakleopolis and recorded their battles in their tombs.

Myths and facts

It is often said that Egypt fell into total anarchy for over a century. In fact, the country was divided rather than lawless: administrations, taxes and local temples continued in each region. It is also sometimes claimed that the pyramids were looted in a great popular revolt at this time. Some royal tombs were probably robbed during these years, but the idea of a single uprising comes largely from later literary texts such as the Admonitions, not from archaeological evidence.

Reunification

The Theban king Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II, who came to the throne around 2055 BC, renewed the war with Herakleopolis. Within his reign the northern kingdom fell, and Egypt was once more under a single king. He later took a Horus name meaning “he who unites the Two Lands”.

Egyptologists use the start of his reign, around 2055 BC, as the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, although the actual reunification came some years later. Around the same time, in Mesopotamia, the Third Dynasty of Ur was nearing its own end, which came with the fall of Ur around 2004 BC.

Timeline

• c. 2184 BC: Death of Pepi II, on the traditional chronology.
• c. 2181 BC: End of the Sixth Dynasty; start of the First Intermediate Period.
• c. 2181-2160 BC: Seventh and Eighth Dynasties rule weakly from Memphis.
• c. 2160 BC: The Herakleopolitan Ninth Dynasty is founded by Khety.
• c. 2125 BC: The Eleventh Dynasty takes power at Thebes.
• c. 2112-2063 BC: Intef II extends Theban control north towards Abydos.
• c. 2055 BC: Mentuhotep II becomes king of Thebes.
• Later in his reign: Herakleopolis falls and Egypt is reunited, opening the Middle Kingdom.

Why it matters

The First Intermediate Period shows how fragile a centralised ancient state could be, and how local societies adapted when it failed. Later Egyptians remembered it as a time of chaos, a memory that shaped their ideal of a strong, unifying king.